Boeing workers rallied this week at the company’s plant in Everett, Wash., in support of the 767-based NewGen Tanker that the Air Force is considering, along with EADS’ KC-45, to be the new KC-X tanker. Everett is site of 767 production. “In the end, this will come down to the airplane that best fulfills the needs of the Air Force, and I know The Boeing Company and our partners will do just that,” said Jim Albaugh, president and CEO of Boeing’s commercial aircraft sector. The Sept. 27 rally came less than two weeks after the World Trade Organization’s interim ruling against Boeing, with press reports claiming that Boeing has received improper subsidies. Earlier this year, WTO established that Airbus, EADS’ large aircraft maker, has unfairly benefited from market-distorting subsidies. So far, the Pentagon has kept this US-Europe trade dispute out of the KC-X competition. (Boeing tanker blog entry and WTO statement) (See also Associated Press report.)
The Space Test Program (STP)-3 launch scheduled for Dec. 5 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla., will prototype new warfighter capabilities, add nuclear launch detection sensors to orbit, and enhance Space Force efforts to improve resiliency in a new “threat-driven paradigm.” In all, 16 payloads from Space Force, NASA,…